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134 thoughts on “General Comments”

Okay, so I’m just going to jump right in here. Like I said before, there’s this powerset that I read about in a Korean webcomic (completely different setting, but the powerset is easily adaptable), and I really really really wanted to see what you or someone else would do with a character who could do with this kind of thing. I admit, a lot of it comes from the aforementioned webcomic, with a few changes on my part. But even if you decide not to use it, maybe it’ll give you a few ideas, so here goes.

Basically, the user has the powers of a video game character. And I don’t mean that he’s Sora from Kingdom Hearts, or Ryu from Breath of Fire, or Jak or Ratchet or Tidus or Commander Shepard or anything like that. (And yes, I’m describing the character as male, but they don’t have to be. With that said, between his teammates and his sister, Brennus could probably use more male interactions in his life.) What I mean is that he has the abilities to modify his own skills or statistics or equipment in the manner that so many video game characters do. When you think about it, if any person could do all of the insane self-modifying things that video game characters do on a regular basis, they really would be superhumans.

The powerset can be divided into four basic categories, with some nuances in their applications. In a few words, they are , , , and . Taken collectively, these powers would definitely put our hypothetical hero an undeniable Variable 10, even at the start of his career. I’ll explain each power grouping below.

is, of course, the ability to gain levels through earning experience points, and all that implies. How this would actually work in a real-world setting is a bit fiddly, but I’ll walk through the process. The hero would gain XP by doing things in the real world, whether they be full quests or simple actions. Quests could be anything from “Destroy the Spiteborn acre!” to “Do the grocery shopping for Mom,” but his powers would automatically assign the terms of the quests, as well as completion rewards and failure penalties. Doing minor actions that don’t qualify as quests, like doing all his homework or lifting weights at the gym, would add minor amounts of XP, or maybe random rewards for diligence. And of course, he would gain large amounts of XP for defeating enemies, whether in a lethal or non-lethal fashion. Killing a Spiteborn might give the same amount of XP as incapacitating the Snow Queen. Anyway, once enough XP is accumulated, our guy would level up and would be able to assign points to stats like Strength or Dexterity or Intelligence (the usual suspects), which would permanently increase both his actual capabilities in the real world and his “Game capabilities”. These are two different things, which I’ll explain further below.

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Next up is the , which is relatively simple but also very powerful. Our guy would have an inventory which would express out in the real world as a dimensional storage space (seriously, it’s the only way all those game characters can carry around so much bulky and/or fragile stuff without wagons or packhorses or anything). The rules on how this dimensional storage space would function are up to you. You could use the WoW-style discrete slots system, where a feather takes up the same amount of space as a suit of armor, or the Diablo-style volume system where a potion takes up one slot but a breastplate fills twelve slots. Weight limits, item size limits, the ability to stack identical items – all up to you.

The other function of the inventory could be for crafting new items. Now, considering the huge number of Gadgeteer-designed or Contrived items in the world of Tieshaunn (it might be worth giving a specific name to your world setting – World of Brennus? Point Zero? Something else?), I don’t know what the limitations on this power would be. I mean, the ability to reliably combine Brennus’ inventions and Hecate’s enchantments would be all kinds of awesome, but it would probably make the team too powerful (unless introduced at the right point in the story). Still, even if the use of this power is limited to conventional items, it could be pretty useful to be able to do something like taking an apple and a tube of Neosporin and creating an Apple of Minor Healing. Although this might be pushing the limits of things as it is, since these would probably qualify as contrivances in and of themselves. Still, Vasiliki has her enchanted equipment, so…

The third power (and by far the most versatile) is . Skills can be almost ANYTHING. Get beaten up by a bunch of school bullies? You’ve just earned the Physical Resistance passive skill, decreasing the amount of damage you take by 3%. Practicing your baseball swings? Congratulations, you’ve got the Power Strike active skill, which costs 5 MP to use and increases your attack power by 10% when you use it. Practicing boxing? You get the Focus: Unarmed Combat skill. And so on. But earning new, more complex skills is more predicated on the users’ imagination and focus than on simple coincidence (though the first few would probably be earned through dumb luck). If our hero can imagine energy going out through his hands, he might earn am offensive ranged skill (like Force Blast or Magic Missile). If he can picture the body’s healing process with sufficient clarity, he might earn a Healing skill, which would actually use MP to heal people (or maybe just Focus: First Aid). He might be able to visualize applying temporary buffs to himself and others, or inflicting temporary status ailments, or a whole slew of stuff. The point is, our guy can gain pretty much any ability he can outline in his head (although they’d be way weaker than a similar ability used by another super). And once a skill has been earned, it can be used at any time just by saying the skill’s name out loud (which would explain why so many characters feel the need to announce their attacks). Although in this case, I think it would work best if he was allowed to use whispers as triggers. And last of all, the individual skills can gain experience and become more powerful through repeated use, completely separate from the system of gaining XP and levels.

Sounding overpowered at this point? It’s not, for the same reason that video game characters can’t just go and kill the final boss as soon as they start. Simply put, this power’s inherent limitations limit its use in a combat setting. It would take months or years of grinding and leveling and stat dumping in Vitality and Strength and Dexterity to get our guy up to the standard of even a level 2 Physique-type. Turned the other way, it would take years of stat dumping in Intelligence and/or Wisdom to match a level 3 Gadgeteer for creativeness. And our guy would need ridiculous amounts of MP to equal a level 3 Damage-type for sustained energy projection. The same limitation applies to skills; while creating any skill at all is theoretically possible, the MP requirements would make any sort of persistent abilities like flight completely impractical. Overall, with the above three power divisions, our guy would probably rate a Variable 5 or 6, although this is really only accurate if applied to his potential.

Where this power really, truly shines is in its potential for sustained, directed growth. Our gamer would not suddenly become super powerful, like other metahumans do. Instead, he starts out as a completely average (or even below-average) human, with basic capabilities. But if there are no level caps or skill-quantity caps, then the growth potential is limitless. The wielder of this powerset could keep getting stronger and more powerful for the rest of his life, while other metas’ developments slowed and stopped. And there are two other factors to consider: his versatility is equally limitless, in that he could have an insane range of weaker abilities to choose from, and his abilities are stackable, in that he can use passive skills, buffs, debuffs and offensive skills in conjunction to temporarily tailor his powers to his opponents. Besides, between a fully-stocked inventory and good enough power armor, the deficiencies in his powers could be more than filled in, which would be easy if our theoretical hero were to join Brennus’ team. So yeah, I’d say Variable 5 or 6 would be appropriate, until he discovers the fourth and final power grouping, which would immediately bump him up to a Variable 9 or maybe even 10.

The final power, , is by far the most powerful. Simply put, by inviting other people to “join his group” and having them accept, he would confer upon them ALL OF THE FIRST THREE POWERS. This would work on anyone, even other metahumans. They’d become capable of gaining XP and leveling up, storing stuff in their own inventories and developing their own skills IN ADDITION TO ANY POWERS THEY ALREADY POSSESSED. They would remain capable of this until they voluntarily “left the group” (by simply speaking it) or our character “dismissed” them from the group. If they left the group, their stats and physical characteristics would return to their pre-joining levels, their inventories would be inaccessible, and their new skills would disappear. However, if they were to receive another invitation from our guy to join the group, all of the above would be restored. I’d cap the maximum number of party members at four, for two reasons. First off, the 4-member party is a long and honored gaming tradition. Secondly, Brennus’ team already has three members, and our hypothetical hero would make four, so it would work nicely. It would also make a nice plot point later on in the story about whether it would be better for our guy to use his powers to make other heroes more powerful or to empower ordinary people like Tim or Stephie and make up the short-term difference with power armor. It would make sense for the conferred powers to be weaker (party members have smaller inventories, gain XP slower, etc.), and it would also make sense for the character to gain some benefit from the party members, like getting a 10-15% cut of their XP or something, but either way, being able to grant powers like that would absolutely make him a Variable 10.

A for our hypothetical character’s personality and backstory, I haven’t fleshed it out nearly as much. Backstory is limited to our character being a consummate video game player, which would explain why he got the powers he did. Maybe his trigger was as a result of intense bullying? Or maybe something a little less bog-standard. Maybe a supervillain attack, like the Spiteborn incursion. Or here’s a good one: his sister could be one of the victims of the other attempts by the Savage Six to get Brennus’ attention. Him wanting to find out why Brennus only saved Prisca and not his sister led him to seek out Brennus in a misguided vengeance scenario, which ends in some fashion with him joining the as yet unnamed team.

Holy crap, I just realized that I’m doing more exposition than Basil. Okay, revelatory moment over, back to expositing.

Personality could be anything you like, but I’d suggest that he be fairly introverted, a little gadget-obsessed, and very up-to-date on the latest internet memes and trends as opposed to Basil’s (implied) indifference to popular culture. I’m sort of envisioning him as being very open toward people who he knows and trusts, and very secretive toward people he doesn’t. I know that if I had these kinds of powers, I’d try to emulate a different powerset in public and tell all sorts of lies about their specific nature. Most likely, I’d pretend I was a Manipulator/Damage type, with the Inventory being the product of limited spatial Manipulation and the Damage aspect expressing as a focus on transmitting energy through mundane weaponry.

That about covers it, really, although there is one other power that would both make sense as a gamer power and as a way of this guy finding the team. You know how in so many games, the names (and affiliation) of characters can be seen hovering above their heads? If that were one of our guy’s powers, he might see things like [Name] or [Name] or even just [Name] above people’s heads, but for heroes, he’d see Jessy [Surname] or Basileus Bartholomew Balthasar Brant-Blake. Which, of course, would allow him to unmask any secret identity at a glance, but what the hell. Oh, and all of his powers express themselves in the form of popups and alert windows that nobody but him can see. Gain a level? The Status Window opens. Want to use the Inventory? Open the Inventory window. Gained experience in a skill? A popup appears showing how much experience to the next skill level.

And that really does wrap it up. Hope you enjoyed reading this big block of exposition!

You know, I started comparing that to actual video gaming experience, and I realized that it would be hellish for him. Think about playing a video game like that. SAO to the extreme. But, I think it might be better if he had like, a class system. So, he might build himself as a tank, but allow his party members to learn healing things, even if they weren’t a healer. I would say nix the combining, give him limited but large inventory in a WoW style, and give him limited skill slots. So yeah, he might be able to fly, shoot laser beams, heal, turn invincible, summon demons, or whatever, but he’d only be able do four or so without entering his rest state to change equipped skills. Or, if you go with the class system, only the class appropriate skills. Revocation available… In resting state. So, in order to nerf the hammerspace, he’d only be able to switch his stuff while asleep. Get a new sword? Go to a bed, select sleep, enter his menu and equip the sword, then hit wake up at 8:00. Boom. Equipment changed.

1. This character would NOT be classified as a Variable type. Variable means you can change your powers on the fly – in this case, he’d get a rating for every power he gained over time – a rising Protection rating for toughness, Damage rating for a stronger blast, etc.
If he can CHANGE his powers, even in a limited fashion (reequip while or after resting, for example), then he’d get the variable rating
Remember, the ratings denote the EFFECTS of a power, not the source.

2. this kind of unlimited power increase would, in rp terms, rate a White Hole. No way this character would be “legal” with less

3. I already have a character (yet to show up) who has something similar (without the video game theme)

4. My cast is pretty much set. But you can use this character in a fanfic (or others can) or try to build it with the rules from the Brennus RP (see the links on the right side of the blog)

I’ve been working on an RP based on the Brennusverse. It’s very abstract, and a work in progress, but it can be used for some basic character creation. The second comment related to how this character could be implemented in an rp-game

I’m pretty sure the Gamer would be a contriver, full stop. He has various random abilities that all relate back to his thematic rpg gamer power. Gamer’s Mind might qualify as a separate power, maybe, but other than that he’s pretty much a definitional wizard type contriver.

Okay, I just realized that any words typed between angle brackets like just disappear. So all the definitions and examples and names are gone. Maybe you can delete this post and I can try again tomorrow? Also, I realized that I didn’t finish the bit on game capabilities and actual capabilities, so I can add that in next time.

Sorry, one more thing. {Testing} I was looking through some of the posts, and I noticed that Aimi has her own character tag, but Tim and Stephie don’t have tags. What are we saying here? Do only superpowered characters deserve their own tags in the This Entry Was Posted section? Is this pro-metahuman-literary-character discrimination? For shame, sir, for shaaaaaame.

Inspired by the gaming ability, what if there was a music based super? Sorta like a bard. Different songs have different effects on him. Play a death metal song? Watch him grow knives or something. On the other hand, play this:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UYrkQL1bX4A&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUYrkQL1bX4A
And watch him lose all energy and pass out.
Likewise, he could apply “buffs” to others by playing music.

I’m using a variation on this for a character in TANH, but the core power is precognitive. Essentially, the super has the power to see the future. Any future, including ones that result from something that already didn’t happen. Except, according the his visions, he doesn’t exist. Anyone or anything he interacts with is no longer exactly predictable. He can see what would have happened if he didn’t intervene, but not what happens after he does. There’s a defensive power there too, other precogs can’t predict him either. It also means he can’t just keep another precog near him to even out the weakness.
It’s not totally hopeless though. Unless he’s a huge influence on their life, or he prolongs contact, then eventually his influence will fade and he can predict them again.

If he can see all futurs, especially even those who are already impossible, he can probably find one where people acted like he made them act even thought he wasn’t here(different reasons but for an identical action). Like, passing next to somebody he make them take a step to the right, in a parallel universe same person made a step to the right because he didn’t wanted a wasp to fly too close to him… or even for no reason at all, we do that sometimes… at least I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who do things and then doesn’t remember why. There is after all an infinity of parallel universes after all.

Just rolls, doesn’t do any actual calculations (except for roll modifiers from things like Dying/Living Star). You can land some interesting combos though – such as that poor guy who got ‘haunted by the Abyss’ four times.

Having read through the character creation guide a few times to make the above roller… is Basil/Macian (assuming Basil IS Macian, which seems a pretty safe bet but you never know) the reason Amy and Aimihime have Apex-tier powers, due to the metahuman link thing? What about Vasiliki – was Basil ‘close’ enough to her to influence her manifestation? I’m going to guess no.

first, let me say this clearly: the character creation guide is just an abstract representation for how it works in the ‘verse. The basic rules apply, but I obviously don’t roll any dice for my characters. Also, the extremes are FAR less likely than in the system, especially cases like Ember.

still, as to your question – Basil and Vasiliki barely knew each other before they teamed up, and she’d had her power long before they ever met

Regarding Macian/Amy, I’ll leave that up for when it comes up in the story X-D

It should reroll for anything that explicitly required a reroll in the document. For everything else, there’s the “roll another dream/nightmare” button. But if you find something (like rolling double-Freedom dream, maybe) that should get a reroll, let me know and I can implement it.

Rules say that if you get a particularly bad roll (under 11) it still counts as exemplar, I think, regardless of your links. So you’ll always have a 10% chance of landing exemplar. But you’ll never land Paragon with an Apex link.

Although hm, re-reading that paragraph, it might imply that there’s no “bad luck” rule for a God or Transcendent link? I took it just to mean that God/Transcendent link = Apex minimum unless you roll 1-10, not God/Transcendent link = Apex minimum regardless.

How would we contact you, if we wanted it to be private? Email address, perhaps? With google docs capabilities. You know, in case, in a purely hypothetical situation, a bunch of non-published serial writers wanted to get a peer-reviewing writing group together.

I’m posting here because I don’t wan’t to create spoilers for people reading the chapter for their first time.

In chapter 3 of the arc where Irene explains the rating system, I noticed with the Damage rating that Irene said there were no transcendent levels except DiL on rare occasions, but hasn’t Heretic already displayed the capability for transcendent level damage to large city sized areas via potentially teleporting them to a dimension without an atmosphere or teleporting an entire city into the sun or any star in any dimension he choses. You seem to describe him as having this capability but never using it because his leader has a bunch of restrictions to make things more of a challenge for their team. If Heretic doesn’t have this capability, please clarify because your description of him in later chapters (the flashback arc with Ember and Macian) makes him SEEM like he is unstoppable (if he wants to be) except against powers like DiL or Ember who are basically unlimited and completely break the system (especially Ember if he uses his power in the right way, he still has a lot of untapped potential but is so powerful already he has no reason to explore it).

Or is that TYPE of damage classified differently since he wouldn’t be directly punching or blasting with an energy beam? If you are willing and it isn’t too much trouble or create spoilers, could you also just list and explain his ratings. Does all of his ability just fall under Contrivance?

the damage rating describes powers exclusively focused on causing damage. Irene notes that, if it was applied to any power that could cause damage, then nearly every metahuman would have it, making the rating meaningless.

Heretic has several restrictions on his power, obviously. But revealing them now would be spoilers 😉 Suffice it to say that teleporting a city into the sun is beyond him.

Ember did explore his power. There IS a reason why everyone is going so crazy over him, and it’s not the healing or de-aging. You just didn’t see much of it because, well, he’d just gotten his powers and was in a situation where experimentation was not really prominent in his mind

Cool, this helps explain stuff and also makes me look forward to later chapters when you reveal these characters more. I had assumed that Ember explored more of his power than what you showed in the flashback but just not completely because his power (as I understand it, and. I may be wrong) has the potential to not only cancel or even remove powers but also to grant powers. He may have limits of course, but you haven’t revealed any besides the whole limited range thing that gives him great influence at a few kilometers and pretty much ABSOLUTE CONTROL if he is touching. With all of that in addition to being potentially immune to all powers simply by imagining his other self as being immune to all powers. Which brings up very important question of can DiL theoretically use her power to give herself Ember’s power since she can apparently choose which powers she gets unlike her sister who gets a somewhat random set? I’m guessing that there are some unrevealed limits to their abilities that you are saving for later in the story, so if addressing any of my questions counts as a spoiler, just ignore me and continue writing. I can wait. I’m just really interested, incase you haven’t noticed.

Well since it seems like you are saving the mystery goodies for later chapters, all I can ask is that you please GIMME MORE CHAPTERS! I’m biting my nails down to the bone over here. *grumbles under his breath* all you stupid web-serial writers and your cliffhangers. *more grumbling* no compassion for the reader. *grumbles as he walks away and kicks at the dirt*

Ok, I know I’ve seen a character called Tartsche somewhere but I can’t recall the chapter, and the sidebar (that may or may not have a list of tags) doesn’t show up on my iPad for whatever reason. Could you help me out here or at least tell me who the character is because I hate not being able to remember. I’m thinking he’s that other gay kid that’s in a relationship with Spellgun, but I don’t think that’s right.

That’s entirely correct. Tartsche is the current captain of the New Lennston United Junior Heroes, and boyfriend to Spellgun. His power is a shield that grows stronger the less he moves, to the point where he’s completely invulnerable when he’s standing still. He can extend this shield over anything he touches.

Hey Tieshaunn, first time commenter here, I love your work! I know you’re busy, but I have a few (optional) requests. You occasionally comment on your works with plot centric points, but because they are scattered across all the chapters, they’re hard to find. Is there a way to see all your comments, or could you make a compilation? Also, would it be possible for you to take a map of the world and shade in or mark how things currently are today? (ie SU, GAIN, Califate, AMU, PATO, and others). Finally, not to but any pressure on you, but would you ever want to design and post the flags for new universe countries like AMU or GAIN, or are they the same as before.

Thank you for your praise and I hope you’ll continue to enjoy my work for a long time.

You should be able to view all my comments via wordpress, if you have an account. However, anything plotcritical that may have been mentioned in the comments WILL be mentioned within the story, too. The comments are NOT necessary for following the story.

If I have the time (and find a proper base map to work on), I’ll provide a world map of the Brennus!Earth. As for the flags, I’ll probably provide a picture and certainly a description once the characters see them in-story (I suck at drawing stuff, so I might not illustrate them myself)

So I understand that your comment on the donation page was a joke, but it got me wondering. In Universe, does there exist some type of thought transference device? Is there any level of electronic mind reading or translation?

Really? With all due respect, and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t modern science becoming increasingly capable of interpreting brainwaves? I believe that there are machines that can sense brainwaves for basic stimuli (hunger, attraction, pain) and it seems like your universe seems to be around at least 20 years ahead (if not more), so wouldn’t we have advanced a lot from the basic stimuli point? Or is this a result of there not being many neuroscience gadgeteers because normally brains themselves aren’t a direct source of major emotion.

When there are chapter delays, you need som kind of system to alert people so that we don’t keep checking back onto the site every 30 minutes. You don’t have to do it immediately, but it would be a great thing to have in place for the future.

I’ve been taking some time to review your world system, and realized something. What are the mental derangements of the major players and individuals? The higher the power tier (with variations on the power), the crazier they are. So, what’s wrong with Gloom Glimmer? Lady Light? The Dark? Queen Madeleine? Etc…?

Is it just me, or is the gadgeteering power looking a bit like super-ASD? I mean, just look:
Inability to pick up on hints-check.
Difficulty in interpreting body language-check.
Unable to “switch off” own mind (for little things like sleep)-check
Godawful social skills-double-check
Focus on one or two specific areas, leading to a high degree of competency in specifically that/those field/s (usually science of some sort)-Czech Republic
Sensitive to loud noise-sort of check, but only one example so far
Overenthusiasm about aforementioned specific areas of study-checkity checkers
Difficulty in displaying or understanding some emotions, excepting others like them-check
Despite the -apparent- lack of empathy, very sympathetic towards other’s plight-check
Pedantic with overwrought and long explanations-ooh boy basil, check
Gets distracted by own machinations (“on another planet”)-Do not even get me started

I’m pretty sure he does, he mentioned somewhere that he has a rough outline for book 2 or 3, so book 1 definitely has one…..Or at least I think he did, I’m convinced that no being int the universe can produce a story of this quality making it as it goes

Okay does anyone else feel like they need to get a team name for Brennus? Moeri maybe (Moerae but I switched the ending to a second declension plural noun, so it entails there is a male in the group). The Pantheon maybe if we’re keeping with the greek theme?

I can, and I do. The problem is that I started out with a different theme that had them automatically at the top and bottom, but was overall just worse. So I switched to this new one, and started putting them in manually, but I haven’t gone back to insert them in all the old chapters yet.

Well it’s time for me to say goodbye, i’m extremely dissapointed with your writing, I found this page and I loved brennus story, but since some time ago it appears that you only want to write about other characters and other stuff, for me it is simply not interesting, i’m tired of waiting for a new brennus chapter so I will say good bye.

You want to write about others in the universe do it as a side story, dont totally stop and forget about the main story, because this drive people away, I do not care about any of the side stories mainly because i find the characters boring and undeveloped, i like the main story because you were developing a great character, but it appears you don’t want to ever go back at it.

I’m sad to read that you think so. I have made my plans for these arcs (which are *not* side stories) and my plans for Basil clear a long time ago.

As for the accusations you are making:
1) Many people enjoy Aap’s story, so he can’t be *that* bad a character. Same for Terry.
2) This is the last non-Basil arc in book 1 (so much for not wanting to go back to it)
3) you should’ve taken a look at the table of contents

Hmmm… Any ideas of how do I call someone an illiterate moron in the nicest way possible? You sir, really don’t understand the idea of “world building and development,” a aspect which a majority of stories in this rather exhausted superhero catagory fail to perfect. Trying to write a story with a single set of characters in a limited background makes a boring story. You do realize that this isn’t the entire story. It’s fairly obvious that the characters will interweave with The new lennonston storyline. Also Terry is badass…. -_-

Hmn, I think you mentioned that she was a relative of one of the Living Trinity members, and Lupa something-or-another. I’m not sure how much the trio bought into the Trinity stuff, or even if they considered themselves a god. Hecate seems to buy into a portion of the neopagan stuff, even if it’s only limited to the loose belief in the goddess of the same name. You also mentioned that Metahumans share links within their abilities (and derangements). Did her goddess-shit stem from the stuff that her-crazy-ass-living-trinity-cousin had? Ooh, also 3 = 3 Aspects of the Trinity, and 3 aspects of Hekate. God these connections are becoming even more apparent! Lupa, what was her power. The primordial notion of a canine-ish animal stalking in the night, and howling at the moon is there! /End rant/

Three questions:
– What does Kraquok’s name mean? Is it gibberish, or a combination of one or two words from a foreign language?
– I’m curious about Killer High’s power: What is it exactly?
– An artist-friend of mine owes me a few favors? I’m getting fan art for Brennus! Do you have any characters you’d really like to see portrayed? I’d appreciate any special descriptions of their appearances or canon quotes.

1. It’s gibberish I came up with when I was 5, for what I thought was the monster under my bed
2. He could instinctively see weakpoints in the bodies of living beings, and he got small, but long-lived boosts to strength, speed, toughness and senses with each kill.
3. Uhh… where to start? Let’s start with the main trio and work from there xD

In reference to your hella old Brennus File on sexuality and gender, I’m a bit curious on a few details. Being openly gay and a total history (and language, but that’s a topic for another day) geek, the LGBTQIAP movement is something that I’ve researched and studied intensely. I’m curious on the PROs and CONs of the Brennusverse within a queer lens. I know that as a society we’re a lot queerer than we used to be, typically because of rising acceptance which has allowed people to leave the closets, their beards, and their denial. A world in which a third of your idols are lesbian/gay, trans, somewhere-in-between, bigendered, or pan sounds pretty idyllic for me, but also we’ve seen that manifestation can radicalize one’s understanding of religion, like with that gestalt set of warlords that I’ve forgotten the name of. Was there any literal fighting over gay rights? Any stonewall type events? I feel like the whole empowering a bunch of individuals who are hella fucked up by the closet (I’ve been there, and even with California liberals as parents shit gets trigger-worthy) and then adding an extra dosage of the mind-fuck is a recipe for disaster, or rather a recipe for desolation in light (RfDiL, anyone?). Also, we basically had to wait until the early 1970s for the movement even to become a sliver of reality, did justice come much sooner?

* Reminder! * I’m curious on LGBTQIA(BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ) rights and the movement within the setting. A few quick questions:
Arming psychologically shaky individuals with godlike power sounds like a recipe for disaster, and it seems that religious thought can be radicalized by manifestation (with those warlords and even the USSR to a degree). Was there any actual violence of that, like a metahuman version of the stonewall riots, perhaps?
Secondly, in terms of riots, how much better are they really? I mean didn’t the PR guy of the United Heroes ask Spellgun to be a drag queen, in the twenty-first century and in a position that should be aware of those issues if it is as good as it sounds? [Check out my scrambled comment from last night if you need to fill in the gaps]

Alright, so… this is a big subject, and a touchy one. So first, I’ll just quickly make my personal, definitive opinion on LGBT stuff in general clear.

Boink and let boink.

Now, as to the brennusverse. Yes, LGBT relations are different here. At least in America and Europe.

In general, people just plain care less. They have people with godlike powers tearing up the neighborhood. So LGBT issues, just like race issues and religious issues are just plain LESS of an issue, unless powers get involved.

I’ll have to write a more thorough text on this, at some point, but to sum it up, it all takes a backseat to superpowers. Two men making love just seems like way less of an offense than a guy who can melt your face by sneezing.

Understood, I’m just curious because a lot of other Alternate-Universe stories really don’t put that many details into LGBT issues. Also, American Pride has taught me that QIA stand for Queer/Questioning (which are more or less synonymous, Queer means, “I don’t want to put a label on it, but I’ve accepted my general gayness, even if I’m probably more than homo”), Intersex (I wouldn’t google images it; it means atypical sexual anatomy), and A is Asexual (as in no-sex-man). I think it’s gone from GLBT (the lesbian community didn’t feel like they were getting enough recognition) to LGBT, to LGBTQ, to LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAPK (a lot of people feel it’s necessary to include. By the time this is. The thing is, the LGBT+ community isn’t organized, so those letters change at the whims of Tumblr and Queer Studies majors. Also, note-to-self, “Boink and let boink” is a great pride-tattoo idea.

Alright, gonna tread out on the minefield here, but I just gotta say, I don’t have much sympathy for the LGBT (and whatever other letters are currently PC to attach) movement.

I’m talking about the MOVEMENT here, people, not the actual LGBT people who just, you know, live their lives and want to love whom they love.

Maybe it’s different in America, but here in Germany, they keep complaining about unequal treatment and all, even though LGBT couples have some rights we heterosexuals STILL aren’t granted, so… it comes across as a lot of jockeying for attention, rather than genuine outrage.

Strangely enough, the actual LGBT people I’ve gotten to know personally dislike the LGBT movement(s) as much as I do.

On another note, since you obviously know more about this than me, is Queer really now acceptable to use? I remember getting shitstormed for using it on a messageboard a few years ago.

Yea, it’s something that’s acceptable to say to MOST. A lot of older gays might get offended, but anyone that still has a pulse and is still is getting laid in the community doesn’t give a shit. It’s not a product of reappropriation. Right now, Queer is great, but calling someone a fag or faggot is enough to get drop kicked. Also, I don’t know about in Germany, but the LGBT+ movement in America is just trying to push a lot of common sense reform (like in the majority of US states conversion therapy is a legal process; or you can be evicted/fired on the grounds of your sexuality or gender identity). There are totally bad parts of it though, and I’ll get to that later. I get the whole understanding of the movement jockeying for attention, but personally I think that media attention has been personally empowering and beneficial to the community as a whole, I know people who have gotten the courage to come out from incidents like Caitlyn Jenner’s, which was perceived as a media stunt for a good while. On the other side, some of members of the movement are actually being divisive, where we should try to be inclusive. Biphobia or heterophobia has also been prevalent in many parts of gay society, which is really disgusting to me, although I don’t think that can be said of the movement as a whole. This is probably quite controversial and I know certain people who I love and admire wouldn’t and don’t agree with me on this, but affirmative action is also something that I don’t think should exist either. Affirmative action as in positive discrimination, so that being gay makes you more likely to be hired than a straight person. I think that’s just fucking stupid, and it’s actually something that a lot of LGBT outlets and organizations put in their agenda. I don’t know how Germany is on that, but I can totally see something like that being cancerous on the movement. Certain progressive organizations, such as Buzzfeed, (which is somewhat racist to white people and heterophobic – cringe) make the employment LGBTQ+ people and people of color into a trophy situation. They look good after they meet a 90% minority quota.

I’ve heard that Germany is the most gay friendly country in the world, you all have your shit together for the most part. America’s recent election (both the results and the candidates) have driven me up the walls over similar issues. Radicalism from both sides of the political spectrum is cancerous.

I know that me asking might be annoying, so feel free to ignore me, but is there a chance to get a new years Patreon update (or maybe even a chapter?😋)
You are to accomplished in the grand dao of the cliffhanger for us mere mortals to endure the tension much longer after your last brilliant chapter.

Edit: yep, definitely spent to much time on Wuxiaworld lately. Need something else to read.😓

Well I’ve had this character idea for a while now, but I’ve never put it on paper so here goes. The defining attribute of contrivers is that they ascribe the effects of their powers to a, presumably delusional, outside source. Like all other contrivers, my character does not know that his contrivances are fake, that the powers actually come directly from him. Unlike other contrivers he is convinced that he has no powers whatsoever, that the contrivances all belong to someone else. You see, these contrivances actually come from his alternate universe twin self who teleports them across dimensions so that the twin’s alternate can fight crime. This means that he is incapable of being a legal hero as you have to have superpowers to qualify (he checked) and also, obviously, he has no need to register himself on any sort of list of empowered people. He can’t be prosecuted or even informed of his mistake as he is utterly incapable of realizing it.
His contrivances are themed, to his great annoyance, as conspicuously fake contrivances. A literal magic feather that makes you subtley better at everything, a healing potion in a ceramic jar labelled Snake Oil in bold print, ludicrous contraptions from Acme Inc. and so on.
The best thing about this is that his explanation is remotely plausible. Both alternate dimensions and powers that can effect beyond them are confirmed as real in this universe. While he does take offense to the notion that he’s a contriver, he thinks that people are making fun of him; how could anyone think that such fake things would be the actual source of their powers? Besides, he talks to his twin regularly (through the alternate’s banana phone) and while like many contrivers he is insane, he is clearly there.
I do know that most supers are female, and I only use he and his for this because I want these powers so bad you guys.

The idea is cooky enough to be a contriver, yes. I mean, the one big example I’ve shown so far is Hecate, who literally believes she is on a mission from GOD (well, a goddess, but you get my point).

I would, however, mention that his delusion would not pose an issue to the authorities (they’ve had to deal with WAY cookier delusions). Whether or not the contrivances are his, since he is the only one who can use them, he’d be classified as a ‘powered combatant’ and there is actually a subsection for, and I quote, ‘persistently powered non-manifested individuals’ in the relevant law texts.

Not that he has to accept the law, just that it’s ready to deal even with the likes of him^^

What I’m trying to say is, whether or not they buy his story (he’d probably be disbelieved simply due to Occam’s Razor – way likelier that he’s a cooky contriver than having a transdimensional twin sending him powered gifts), he’d be treated the same way in the end.

Plot twist: the inventions actually come from an alternate universe. His other self calculated that if the hims in other Universes don’t have superweapons too the imbalance would instantly destroy time and space. That’s why he started to send as much stuff as possible through Schrödingers Box (after he closes it and puts it into a room filled with poisonous gas the content is both there and in an alternate universe) to all of the infinite other Universes. So far he hasn’t noticed that he keeps connecting to the same universe…

I love the story, but one part in particular has been bothering me for a while. Why do people like Queen Madeleine? In-universe, not out. The AMU doesn’t really seem that different from the GAIN or the Sovjet Union to me. They’re all fundamentally the same, an inherently inefficient and corrupt system of government rendered not only functional but actually effective because of powers. Sovereign’s ability to create automated systems preventing the suspicion and corruption of a dictatorship, the Sovjet’s agricultural Gadjeteering letting them produce more food, and Espers hunting down those who exploit the system letting Communism not only work, but actually work pretty well, and Madeleine’s nigh-immortality (I say nigh-immortality because every power has a weakness as per WoG, even the outliers like Ember, and presumably Madeleine) preventing her from dying and being succeeded by a less capable monarch (or more likely the country falling back into the same chaos that she lifted it from as none of her metahuman nobles have the power to claim the throne).

But people in and out of universe don’t seem to see it that way. Lady Light’s behavior is a good example. She its stated that she has repeatedly spoken out to the Red Council, encouraging them to change their ways, but seems to view “Maddie” as as close a friend as she has, to the point that she seems to view her as an acceptable role model for her child. Irene, likewise, has put repeated attempts into convincing her father to give up on supervillainy and become a hero, but we have seen no such efforts targeted at “Aunt Maddie” (I remember Irene calling her that, it might just have been Maddie, wither way she both knows and likes her without any issues, despite her strong moral compass).

Likewise many readers, and the narrative itself, seem to support this view, which I just cannot understand. The Sovjet rebel group seems to be treated more respectfully than the Australian one for example, both in the story and the comments. The only difference that I can see between them is their odds of success.

And as a followup question, why does everybody call Sovereign a megalomaniac when he seems so obviously non-megalomaniacal? He’s an ego maniac, sure, but if he was really a megalomaniac wouldn’t he have already conquered the world already? Unless the Subjagator we saw in Esperanza had some easily exploitable crippling weakness, hardly likely, or mass production means something far far less than what it sounds like, then world conquest should be quite easy for Sovereign. The only real threat would be the possibility of some kind of assassination dream team like the one that killed the Godking of Mars, but Sovereign seems to be enough of an egomaniac to think that he could take it, not to mention using a preemptive strike to kill any meta powerful enough to be worthy of said team. Can Lady Light survive a Zeus Caster? Probably. Can she survive 2? Perhaps. What about ten? I doubt it, and if the Mark VII Subjugator is truly mass produced then Sovereign could likely afford to dedicate that many to any cape or cowl powerful enough that they might be capable of punching through his defenses (note that I’m not saying that this would go of without a hitch, for example Lady Light might prove fast enough to dodge a Subjugator’s Zeus Caster, and he almost certainly wouldn’t be able to actually locate every meta powerful enough to make this kill list at the same time, given their propensity for secrecy, particularly for the cowls, but it could very well be enough, and given his egomania he seems more likely to try than not.). So why hasn’t he already either conquered the world or made himself such a threat that the international meta community united against him and killed him?

Part of your issue is, plainly, my fault. I haven’t put enough focus on these things, or perhaps focus on the wrong aspects. But I’ll try to address it all, hopefully clear it up and make it make sense:

1) The whole “tea and talk” is for the same reason as to why Lady Light speaks out to the Red Council – Diplomacy, persuasion, encouraging Madeleine into a more… humane and liberal mindset. The difference being that with the AMU, it’s all focused on one person, and a person who dislikes too much formality, so she frames it as a more casual get-together rather than official political interactions. Different target requires a different negotiating strategy.

2) The Dark is a big fan of Madeleine. Introducing Irene to her was his idea and once it happened, Lady Light didn’t have a good reason to discontinue it without undermining her work with Madeleine.

3) Maddie is more favourably seen in-universe, at least in the USA, because she’s not an enemy power. While people, especially governments may be suspicious, even openly distrustful of her, she is not the Sovjet Union, which has been in a state of Cold War with the PATO for a good fifty decades now. Furthermore, her system of government (an absolute monarchy with a merit/power-based nobility and a relatively free market) is inherently opposed to Communism, which is the big enemy, after all. Same reason why in our world, the US Government supported so many dictators across the world (like Saddam, or the military junta in greece) rather than risk them falling to Communist revolutionaries.

4) Have you seen Mad Max? From the first to fury road? Imagine that, plus super-powers, monsters of indeterminate origin and some Garth Ennis-outlook on life and morality sprinkled on top. That’s Australia, pre-Maddie. Is it so hard to see why her own people love her, even if she is a dictator?

5) I try not to judge/portray people based on whom they oppose, but on who they are. The plain truth is that the revolutionaries shown in Canary’s interlude were just not good people, while Kopatel is actually noble and dignified, and does his best to keep his revolution humane. There are other, far more sympathetics opponents of Maddie’s that’ll show up later.

6) As for the in-universe perception of Kopatel’s revolution, again – he is fighting Communism. The West loves that and the media are 100% behind him on it. Hurray for Propaganda, I guess.

7) I think it’s come up several times by now that Irene’s view of a lot of people is rather… distorted. She has a strong moral compass, yes, but it has some very big blindspots, mostly centered around her father. As for Maddie, she’s one of the few people who’re not afraid of her, don’t treat her like a nuke waiting to go off, who’s all but immune to her power (and thus safe to be around) and someone that Daddy admires and whom Mommy talks to like an equal (misinterpreting her mother’s politeness for actual affection, as she can’t read either of them with her power and is quite lost to interpreting people without it).

8) Sovereign is viewed less favourably in the west because he’s committed several rather brutal slaughters/purges, and he is openly dismissive of diplomatic advances, from all sides. Madeleine at least allows any legitimate government to have an embassy in her capital, Sovereign has refused most.

9) Unlike the AMU, GAIN is on a continent that the PATO has several economic, political and strategic interests in (the countries north of the Sahara are allies against the Sovjet Union, South Africa is part of the PATO, if barely), all of whom are feeling VERY threatened by Sovereign’s GAIN.

10) Why hasn’t Sovereign taken the world over yet, or at least tried? That’s a good question. It’s a question a a lot of people are asking, since he seems to have the means to at least make a credible grap at all of Africa and Europe, if not more.

11) He can mass-produce mundane equipment without issue, but mass-producing a Subjugator is extremely expensive. Even if he has the technology to do it, it takes billions of dollars in materials, nevermind upkeep for the factories. There aren’t that many Subjugator, and they do get destroyed now and then, too (as the one in the fight against Crocell got shot down). Also, Africa is HUGE – most of his automatons are tied up just keeping the peace.

12) Even so, his defenses are enormous and it doesn’t help that most people don’t actually know where he lives. He certainly doesn’t spend all, or even most, of his time in his palace at the capital. Attacking him has been tried and has failed. Also, don’t forget that he has his own metahuman troops. He doesn’t rely solely on robots and drones.

1) Yeah, this is a little unclear, but then it would be. After all if its an affectation for the queen’s benefit then Lady Light is hardly likely to make it public.

2) X-P My fault for forgetting the other side of the equation. Also it makes a certain degree no that I think about it. There are very few people that a young Irene could be left with if her parents needed to go off and fight some S-class threat, and Madeleine is just about the only person on that list that wouldn’t be equally tied up in that kind of event.

3) That makes a lot of sense. I wasn’t alive during the cold war, so its easy for me to forget the mentality of those times.

4) I honestly never had a problem with her own people loving her, a lot of dictators come to power with populism. I don’t think that justifies her stay in power, but that’s my opinion, and I can understand someone holding a different one if they have a sufficiently good reason, and you’ve giving the in-universe people a lot of good reasons.

5) My bad then. I just read too much into it, looking at the anti-AMU as emblematic of your opinion of those who oppose Maddie, when it really wasn’t.

7) Is her inability to read people the old fashion way just because she’s never needed to learn or is it some kind of derangement?

10) I was wondering if that question would turn out to be one of those ones where the inconsistencies would turn out to be on purpose. But it doesn’t actually answer my question. Why do people call him a megalomaniac when he doesn’t really seriously attempt to expand his territory? Has he declared his intent to conquer the world or do people just call him that because that’s the stereotype and they already don’t like him?

11) Mass production implies a massive number. And the UH keeps the peace across multiple continents while having a mere handful of metahumans that approach anywhere near a Subjagator’s level. Admittedly they don’t do it without support, but neither do the Subjagators. Sovereign does have a mundane army, and his own metahumans, plus maybe smaller, cheaper robots.

12) I didn’t suggest attacking him in person because I thought it was easy, I suggested it because I thought it was possible. His power gives him greater ability to project power than anyone else we’ve heard of, save for the Godking himself. If you engage only his forces you would make his victory inevitable. Know that you’ve mentioned his factories, and the difficulty of operating them, I’ve realized that targeting his infrastructure would be the more efficient method of fighting him. Not easy of course, against someone that powerful there is no easy option, but probably more likely to succeed than the desperate strike idea.

10) Partly because they don’t like him, but he HAS pretty much said he’s going to spread the GAIN all over the world… he just hasn’t made any credible efforts yet to do so and be taken too seriously.

11) The Subjugators are not as invincible as they might seem. Do remember that that one was fighting under ideal circumstances. One big target that couldn’t be missed with very limited intelligence. They’re not infallible and can be outwitted or overcome with the right tech or powers.

Also, do remember that the world is in a state of Cold War, just waiting to break into Hot War. If, say, the PATO committed troops and other resources to attacking GAIN, the Sovjet Union WOULD capitalise by attacking the PATO, and vice versa.

Just been binging on this after leaving it for more works when suddenly it appears 12.10 is missing… Im rather confused if this is recent or just hasn’t been noticed, I would love to continue but reluctant with a chunk of the story gone.

I really love what you’ve made here, I just want to catch up like everyone else
My deepest regards and well wishes
CH